Bagley Wright House

Seattle, Washington, USA
Designed 1977
Landscape by Cornelia Oberlander
Located on a nine-acre forested site north of Seattle, this 9000 square foot single level residence was also designed to
accommodate the display of a major modern art collection. The building is situated on the edge of a ravine at the north
end of a 100-foot wide by 600-foot long clearing in the forest with distant views of Puget Sound to the northwest.
A long driveway leads to an entrance courtyard on the west side of the building. From the courtyard, an elevated
platform on an east/west axis leads through a series of carefully proportioned concrete structural frames in a north/south
direction, which delineate the three major zones of the building: the residence on the west, the central gallery space, and
the guest house on the east. The entrance axis, punctuated by a row of double columns, extends through the building to
views of the forest on either side.
The entry is flanked on the north side by the master bedroom suite and on the south by a sitting room, kitchen, informal
dining area, utility, garage and caretaker’s suite. The gallery space also accommodates the formal entertainment areas.
The north facing living room has a view across a slate lined reflecting pool to a cantilevered stone/concrete terrace, which
bears an Anthony Caro sculpture. A steel structural grid infilled with frosted glass block panels covers the roof of the
gallery. The dining area looks through a greenhouse, which spans the south end of the building across a moss garden
containing an Anthony Smith sculpture.
Beyond the moss garden, a swimming pool surrounded by stone terraces reaches out to a rolling meadow planted with
wildflowers and grasses. A Mark Di Suvero sculpture is situated to the west side of the meadow.
The major building material is buff coloured cast-in-place concrete. Kasota sandstone pavers bordered by concrete cover
all outdoor terraces and extend into the interior.
See "Interiors- Bagley Wright House" for more photos.
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